In recent years, malicious organizations have created a variety of sophisticated targeted attacks aimed at high-profile or high-level entities, such as governments, corporations, political organizations, defense contractors, or the like. In many cases, the goal of such targeted attacks is to gain access to highly sensitive or confidential information, such as financial information, defense-related information, and/or intellectual property (e.g., source code), and/or to simply disrupt an entity's operations.
One common technique for executing targeted attacks on organizations is spear phishing. Using this technique, an attacker may impersonate a trusted entity (e.g., a trusted contact or business partner) in electronic communications to a specific individual within an organization. For example, an attacker may impersonate a trusted entity by using an Internet address (such as a web address or an email address) that is similar to (and that may be mistaken for) the trusted entity's Internet address. By impersonating a trusted entity, an attacker may entice an individual to open malicious email attachments, visit malicious web pages that may exploit vulnerabilities in web browser software, or enter sensitive information (e.g., account credentials) into a malicious website that imitates the look and feel of a trusted website. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for systems and methods for detecting suspicious Internet addresses.